Guido Ralph Margida

On Sunday, November 29, 2020, Guido Ralph Margida, 92, loving husband and father of six children, passed into the arms of his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He will be remembered for his strong faith in God, his endless love and sacrifice for family, his passion for cooking, his compassion for feeding the hungry, and the cherished friendships of countless lives that he touched. Guido was born on January 15, 1928, in Akron, Ohio, to Antonio and Raffaella Margida. He married his sweetheart, Rose Sanfilippo, on June 30, 1949. This past year, they celebrated 71 years of marriage! Guido and Rose lived in the Highland Square area of Akron for many years and moved to Manchester in 1972 and then to Coventry in 1997. Guido's life-long adventure in building his culinary skills began in the 1940's working at the Mayflower Hotel in Akron, serving our country in Japan as a cook for the US Army and then at the Diamond Grille in Akron. Guido literally went from washing dishes to cooking the finest steaks in Akron. He would brag that in two years of cooking steaks at the Diamond Grille, he only had one steak returned to the kitchen! His work in the restaurant industry continued and several years later he and his brother-in-law, Jim Sanfilippo, opened the Regency Wine and Deli in Highland Square.In 1962, Guido started his long career in the tire industry working for General Tire and then Jetzon Tire in Akron. In 1972, he joined Goodyear Tire & Rubber and in 1981 was promoted to Rail System Manager for the entire U.S. It was then that he first learned how to use a computer and was tasked to travel the country to train other Goodyear employees on the use of that system. In 1985, Guido won an award for a product storage idea that provided Goodyear's customers with improved service and cost savings. Prior to his retirement from Goodyear in 1988, Guido organized an Adopt-A-Family program to help families in need. It was around this time that he realized his calling was "feeding hungry people". Responding to a newspaper ad later that year, Guido started cooking and serving food as a volunteer at the Haven of Rest in Akron. He formed the "Turkey Team", annually preparing 250 turkeys over Thanksgiving and Christmas for 15 years. A cherished family tradition was time spent with his children and grandchildren at the Haven of Rest on Thanksgiving mornings to prepare and serve meals for needy families. In 2007, he and Reverend Ben Walker started a fundraiser at the Haven of Rest, entitled "Dinner with Guido", feeding over 1000 people each year for five years. Throughout their lives together, Guido and Rose participated in many organizations. Guido would generously give his time and talents as a servant leader, with Rose faithfully serving by his side. One such organization was the Sons of Italy. They were long time members and Guido served as the Vice President and then as President for several years. Guido was proud of his Italian heritage and loved to share it with others. Guido's instructions the minute hot food was served was always "Mangia!", an Italian word meaning "Eat!".Guido believed in the Gospel message of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as the only way of salvation. Jesus Christ gave him peace, and Guido knew that he could call on Jesus at any time for help in this life which fueled his desire for others to know Jesus as their Savior. Guido and Rose were active members of The Chapel in Akron and their Adult Bible Fellowship family for over 30 years.Guido was preceded in death by his father Antonio, mother Raffaella, brother Frank, sister Rosie and grandson Antonio. He is survived by his wife Rose and their 6 children: Frank (Jan), Guido Jr. (Diane), Lynn (Scott), Anthony (Andrea), John (Mary), Jim (Paula); 18 grandchildren: Julie (Mark), Damon (Kasy), Dustin (Marissa), Nicholas, Angela (Billy), Meghan, Nick (Jennifer), Vince (Lindy), Lauren (Dan), Guido III (Natalie), Michaela, Benjamin (Kelly), Gregory, Maria (Matt), Matthew (Molly), Michael, John Jr., Joseph; 15 great-grandchildren: Noah, Guido IV, Mark, Katelyn, Tyler, Judah, Cecilia, Reagan, Dominick, Leo, Miles, Giuliana, Layla, Jaxon and Beatrice. Guido and Rose lived with and were lovingly cared for by Lynn Margida and Scott McKinney for four years prior to moving to The Village of St. Edward at Green. A heartfelt thank you is extended to all the caregivers at St. Edward and Summa Akron City Hospital for the care given to Guido over the last few months. Deepest appreciation and gratitude are also extended to Dr. Troy Bishop, who provided exceptional care for Guido as his primary care physician for the last 19 years.Private Funeral services will be held Friday, December 4, 2020 at 12:30 pm at the Anthony Funeral Home and private interment with Military Honors will be held at 2:30 pm at Ohio Western Reserve National Cemetery. The funeral and cemetery services will be live streamed at facebook.com/AnthonyFuneralHomes. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to The Haven of Rest Ministries in Akron.

The funeral service can be viewed here

The cemetery service can be viewed here